Sep 21 2008
Power Gamers: Evil or Malicious? Or, Maybe, Misunderstood?
Almost without fail I have found that Power Gamers have been the death of any attempt at role-playing. They refocus the game away from story, plot, and character depth, instead focusing on systematically trying to destroy the game world’s coherency. I honestly have no idea quite how to deal with an honest-to-badness dyed in the wool power gamer. However, I think there’s a dirty little secret that we don’t like to admit.
We’ve all got a little power gamer in us.
Well, most of us anyway. I think Robin’s Laws - remember Robin’s Laws? I’m recommending it again for those who missed that the first time - describes this best.
One of my pet theories about the popularity of roleplaying games goes like this.
Roleplaying is fantasy shopping for guys.
That is, men would, as a group, be more interested in shopping if a) it meant never having to leave the house and b) they were shopping for super-powers.
(skipping a bit of his stuff -Maliseraph)
Though the power gamer is the purest exponent of the love of crunchy bits, even the most dedicated method actor or storyteller can secretly lust for them in his heart. They allow us to fantasize about flying even after we’re too old to run around the house with red towels tied around our necks.
(Of course, I know that the above bit about shopping and guys is a vast, stereotypical generalization. The world is full of men who like shopping, and every year more and more women are coming to appreciate the advantages of the +50 vorpal sword. But, still…)
I think what truly defines the “power gamer” I describe at the beginning of this post has one characteristic that separates him from the rest of us. He pursues his desire past the point of reasonableness and on toward ruining the experience for everyone else.
Something that I think gets lost in the discussion too often is that ultimately gaming involves pretending something that we aren’t able to do in real life. It’s of course about some power, the power to do these things, and perhaps what makes a player happy is the accumulation of ability to affect the game world. There’s nothing wrong with this, if it makes that player happy, and it doesn’t interfere with everyone else’s enjoyment of the game.
So, how to accommodate this to the varying degrees without running into the problem of everything getting instantly slaughtered?
Foremost, I’ve found that you need to guide players in what they should go after, to grab things that work within your story. Yeah, that “+50 vorpal sword” could be nice, but if the game has the players fighting people who’ve been charmed who they shouldn’t be wanting to kill, you might recommend to the player that the “+50 mancatcher” might be a better choice. This way they won’t slaughter your plot points, and they won’t feel like you’re always specifically crafting problems that are designed to run against what they went out of their way to have fun with in the game.
And then there’s the “+50″ part of the problem. This crops when a player hits either a level cap, a maximum level of an ability, or something like that. I encountered this in early games I ran, and learned that it is very important to ration out what you give your players, and occasionally take things away, so that they can get it back again and feel that they’ve moved ahead. In a way they have, as they’ve solidified control that was not as strong as they thought it was, but the point is to give players what they want without letting it break the game. I will also point out that I try to be careful to balance taking things away with giving something back, perhaps new contacts, or a new mentor.
On the whole I’ve found the method I’ve had the most success with without upsetting players involves planning very far ahead. Resist the temptation to reward them lavishly, and periodically give out larger awards at significant points in the story. The players will feel they’ve earned it, and it will mean more both to them and to their characters.
Plan out the things you give the players so that you can work them into your story, perhaps a relic has a mind of its own, perhaps a mentor has gone slightly mad, perhaps a retainer has a secret lover. This will work your power gamers into the plot and make them appreciate the things they get when they at last know they’ve truly mastered them.
Go, embrace your inner power gamer! And for heaven’s sakes, shun the ones who can’t figure out how to play nice with people. Hopefully they’ll realize they’re ostracizing themselves and learn a valuable life lesson.
4 Responses to “Power Gamers: Evil or Malicious? Or, Maybe, Misunderstood?”
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It’s hard to make generalizations about anything in gaming, in my opinion.
I would define a power-gamer differently than you. Different people like RPGs for different reasons, and take enjoyment from different parts of the game. To some people, getting into character and interacting with other characters is their favorite part, some people like to use RPGs as an outlet for their bizarre sense of humor (*cough* Jon! *cough*), others enjoy character development, plot unfolding, world-exploring, and of course, killing things with extreme prejudice.
I think the power gamers are the players who take the most joy from “winning” at things- defeating enemies, controlling politics, or other similar activities- power gaming can mean very different things depending on the game and the campaign. For instance, a D&D power gamer might strive to do as much damage as possible in a combat round, a Deadlands power gamer might strive to be as difficult to kill as possible, and a vampire power gamer might be one who strives to control politics (and maybe other PCs) to the greatest extent possible.
Most of the time, power-gaming can be done in a manner which doesn’t harm the game, and there are ways for players and GMs to get along with such people, and they can even make the game better.
For instance, in Deadlands, having a power-gamer gunslinger can make everyone else much happier (and much less dead). In D&D it’s nice to have the broken wizard over there, because it helps the party. In Vampire, it can be nice to have the guy controlling politics in your coterie.
Now there are some individuals- let’s call them assholes- that inevitably make games not fun. Don’t play with them. But first, try to see if you can cater to what they’re looking for while catering to the other players.
BTW, the 4th Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide has a really good section on different types of players, and different player motivations (and how to please them.) It’s a surprisingly good analysis of RPing coming from wizards. I’d recommend checking it out.
@Nick:
That’s definitely something I didn’t think too hard about in this post, and when you put it that way I definitely see what you mean from your examples.
But
(you saw it coming, admit it)
But, I have to say that my feeling is that unless they’re playing in the game they shouldn’t be necessary to the game. The challenge level of things thrown at the players should reflect what the group is capable of facing and how they like to come out those challenges.
With 5 tricked out combat monsters they’re probably hoping for some challenging fights that a less carefully tuned group would be completely trounced by.
But that other group shouldn’t encounter that fight except by their own choice or if there is some other way for them to deal with the situation.
I’m really curious to see what’s in the DM guide, I know that they get a really heavy load of power gamers and I suspect they have some very good advice on how to meld them into a group.
What I was trying to get at in my post is the stereotype that surrounds “power gaming” and saying that number one, it’s not always a bad thing, and its something we all engage in, and number two, it’s the fact that they’re assholes that’s the problem, not that they’re power gamers.
I know I’ve met people obsessed with character development who I’ve just wanted to push out a window. Only a ground floor window, but nonetheless. The navel-gazing and complete lack of interest in contributing to moving the plot forward drove me nuts. Not to mention getting so “into character” that there was only one possible choice for the character even though it screwed things up for everyone in a not-fun way.
Anyone who cannot bring themselves to let people have a good time with what they enjoy is the real problem. I don’t think I was as clear about that in the last paragraph of my post as I meant to be. Every “archetype” of gamer has its assholes, I was just trying to say that the power gaming ones get the most press, and mess things up for the ones who like power gaming but won’t ruin things for everyone over it.
I suppose I was trying to liken it to racial stereotypes, where most people are not so easily typed, but there are the few who ruin it for the rest.
To add one more thought, what it comes down to is that pretty much anyone who focuses on one aspect to the complete exclusion of all others and refuses to compromise is going to ruin things for people. That’s what I’m trying to say, and when I put it like that it almost seems anti-climactic to say. Kinda self-evident.